Printer functional operation control means



March 12, 1968 SIEGEL ET AL 3,372,788

PRINTER FUNCTIONAL OPERATION CONTROL MEANS Filed July 22, 1966 2Sheets-Sheet 1 I Z (01 Z INVENTORS. I /74n z)7 j'ztpdz, 0y 6. M5021March 12, 1968 h M. SIEGEL ET A 3,372,788

PRINTER FUNCTIONAL OPERATION CONTROL MEANS Filed July 22, 1966 2Sheets-Sheet :i

INVENTORS. #42??? -68 6X,

United States Patent 3,372,788 PRINTER FUNCTIONAL OPERATION CONTROLMEANS Martin Siegel, Oak Park, and Roy G. Mason, Detroit,

Mich., assignors to Dura Corporation, Oak Park, Micl1.,

a corporation of Michigan Filed July 22, 1966, Ser. No. 567,259 Claims.(Cl. 197-19,)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE There is herein disclosed an operationalcontrol system for a printer having manually operable selection meansfor selecting various operations and comprising electrically operablecontrol means for selecting the various operations, switch meansoperable by the manually operable selection means to actuate theelectrically operable control means, and input signal means operable byan associated input device to selectively actuate the electricallyoperable control means.

This invention relates to business machines and more particularly to aprinter such as an electric typewriter.

The invention resides in the provision of new and improved control meansfor selecting and causing functional operations in a typewriter such asspacing, backspacing, carrier return, and index operations.

The inventive principles have been applied to an electric typewriter orprinter of the type designated Selectric and manufactured byInternational Business Machines. Portions of the operating mechanism ofsuch a typewriter are shown, for example in US. 3,239,049. In thepresently preferred embodiment of the invention, the printer isincorporated in an automatic writing system of the type disclosed incopending applications Ser. No. 519,872 filed Jan. 11, 1966, for WritingSystem and Ser. No. 559,038 filed June 7, 1966, for Writing System. Insuch a system, the printer is manually operable by depression ofselection keys on a keyboard and is automatically operable by electricalinput signals from an associated reader system or the like.

The principal object of this invention is to provide electricallyoperable control apparatus for controlling functional operations in theprinter in a faster and more reliable manner than heretofore.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawings inwhich:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of the apparatus;

FIG. 2 is an end view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

Referring now to FIG. 3 of the drawings, the printer is provided withfunctional operation selection means in the form of a plurality of slideelements 10, 12, 14, 16 mounted in parallel side by side relationshipand slidably supported for reciprocable movement along theirlongitudinal axes between retracted inoperative positions, as shown, andextended operating positions (not shown) displaced longitudinally in thedirection of the arrow 17 in FIG. 1. In the illustrative embodiment, theslide elements are provided for index, carrier return, backspace, andspacing operations, respectively. Spring means (not shown) bias theslide elements toward the operative position. The selection meansfurther comprises latch means 18, 20, 22, 24, FIG. 3, associated witheach of the slide elements and selectively pivotally movable between 21latched position (not shown) and an unlatched position shown in FIG. 1.In the latched position, the slide elements are held in the inoperativeposition against the bias of the spring means. In the unlatchedposition,

the slide elements are moved in the diretcion of the arrow 17 to theoperative position by the spring means.

In the illustrative embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, each of the latchmeans comprises a lever member 25 having an shoulder portion 26 adaptedto be retainingly engaged by a latch bar 27 in the latched. position.The lever member 25 is pivotally mounted about a pivotal connection 28for pivotal movement which causes shoulder portion 26 to be moved out ofand into latching engagement with the latch bar 27. A latch spring 29 ismounted at one end on a leg portion 30 of the lever and at the other endon a leg portion 31 of the slide element so as to bias the lever towardthe latched position. In prior practice, the latch lever has beenpivotally actuable to the release position, shown in FIG. 1, by a legportion 32 of manually operable selection levers of the printer. Thisapparatus is of conventional design and is not therefore described inany greater detail herein, reference being made to the well knownSelectric typewriter construction involved.

In the present invention, it is proposed to actuate the slide memberselectrically and automatically without actuation of selection lever 32.To this end, latch release means are provided which comprise armaturemembers 34, 35, 36, 37 pivotally mounted at one end at 40 and havinglatch engaging means 41, 42, 43, 44 at the other end operativelyengageable with the associated latch lever 25 in the inoperativeposition of the control members. The latch engaging means are in theform of transversely extending flanges which overlie the latch lever soas to engage and cause pivotal downward movement thereof when thearmature member is pivoted downwardly. Spring means 46, 47, 48, 49 areconnected to the armature members so as to bias the armature members andthe release means carried thereby upwardly toward the latched position.Electrically operable actuating means in the form of electromagneticdevices 52, 54, 56, 58 are provided to actuate the armatures. Eachelectromagnetic device includes a coil 60 energizable from a suitablesource of potential through circuit means 61 having control means in theform of, for example, a key operated switch 62 and/or input controlcircuitry 64 of an associated input device such as a reader means or thelike. A core 66 is magnetized when coil 60 is energized and armaturemember 37 is attracted and pulled downwardly about pivot 40 to theposition shown in FIG. 1, to actuate latch 24 and release the functionaloperation slide element.

Each armature member comprises a plate portion 68 having a transverselybent attaching flange 70 integrally formed along the bottom thereof. Thelatch actuating means is formed by a flange 44 which is also integralwith and transversely bent from the plate portion 68. An armature plate72 is attached to the flange 70 and extends generally over the core 66.A flux retum path is provided by a portion 74 of the plate 72 extendingbeyond the coil 58 and core 66 in closely spaced realtionship to a fluxreturn flange 76 integrally formed on bracket means 78.

The bracket means supports the electromagnetic means and the armaturemembers in parallel side by side relationship and comprises an attachingportion 80 which is securely fastened by any suitable means to a portionof the printer frame 81. The electromagnets are mounted on a supportportion 82 formed by a generally U-shaped portion of the bracket meansincluding spaced wall portion's 84, 86. At each end of the bracket,shaft supporting flanges 88, are provided. An armature shaft 92'and aspring attaching rod 94 extend between the supporting flanges. A spacersleeve 95 is mounted between the armature lever 34 and flanges 88, andspacer sleeves .96, 97, 98, 99 are connected to the armature levers 34,35, 36, 37.

Thus, it may be observed that the disclosed apparatus has the advantageof permitting the mechanical selection apparatus 32 of the printer to becompletely bypassed during either manual key lever operation of theprinter by use of switch 62 or automatic operation of the printerthrough an associated input device 64 such as a reader. The inventiveconcepts are disclosed herein by reference to an illustrative embodimentof the invention which may be variously otherwise embodied and it isintended that the appended claims be construed so as to include variousalternative uses of the inventive concepts except insofar as limited bythe prior art.

The invention claimed is:

1. Functional operation control apparatus for a printer comprising:

selection members 1046 movable between an operative position for causingselected functional operations in the printer and an inoperativeposition preventing selected functional operations in the printer,

latch means 1824 pivotally mounted on each of said members and beingoperative to hold the members in the inoperative position untilreleased,

manually operable latch release means engageable with said latch meansto pivotally displace said latch means relative to said members,

electrically operable latch release means operatively associated witheach of said latch means in the inoperative position of said members andbeing operative to release said latch means and permit movement of theassociated member to the operative position,

each of said electrically operable latch release means including:

electrically operable magnetic means 52-58,

circuit means 61 for selectively energizing said magnetic means,

control means 6264 in said circuit means to selectively energize saidmagnetic means and including a first control means 62 operable by keyselection in the printer and a second control means 64 operable by inputsignals derived from an as sociated input device,

an armature member 37 pivotally mounted at one end and releasablyengageable with the latch means of the associated member at the otherend, and

said armature member being pivotally displaced by said magnetic meansupon selective energization by either said switch means or by inputsignals from said ipput device.

2. Functional operation control means for a printer of the type having aplurality of selectively operable selection members -16 movable uponselection between operative and inoperative positions with pivotallymovable latch means mounted on said members to hold the members in theinoperative position until selected, and comprising for each member:

latch release means 18-24 pivotally movably supported for pivotalmovement between an operative position and an inoperative position,

an abutment 26 carried by said latch release means,

said abutment being engageable with said pivotally movable latch meansin the operative position and releasing said pivotally movable latchmeans during movement of said latch release means from the inoperativeposition to the operative position,

a magnetic armature 72 carried by said latch release means,

and an electrically operable magnet 66 mounted in operative relationshipto said magnetic armature and being selectively operable to move saidmagnetic armature and said latch release means between the operativeposition to the inoperative position,

there being return means 49 operative to return said magnetic armatureand said latch release means from the operative position to theinoperative position to 4 cause latching engagement of said member aftera selected functional operation occurs and said member is returned fromthe operative position to the inoperative position.

3. Operational control apparatus for a printer or the like havingmechanically operable selection means for selecting various operationsand being movable between a latched inoperative position and anunlatched operative position, latch means associated with said selectionmeans to hold said selection means in the latched inoperative positionuntil selected, electrically operable control means for actuating saidlatch means, input signal means to actuate said electricall'y operablecontrol means, and said electrically operable control means comprising:

electromagnetic means selectively energizable by said input signalmeans,

pivotally mounted armature means movable by said electromagnetic meansbetween an inoperative latch position and an operative release positionrelative to said latch means,

said armature means comprising an elongated plate member pivoted at oneend and releasingly engageable with said latch means at the oppositeend,

an attaching plate formed along one edge of said plate memberintermediate the ends thereof,

an armature plate carried by said attaching plate and located adjacentto and in operative relationship with said electromagnetic means,

a release flange formed at the one end of said elongated plate member,

pivotal supporting means formed at the other end of said elongated platemember and receiving a pivot rod,

a spring attaching flange formed at the other end of said elongatedplate member,

spring means associated with said release flange to return said armaturemeans aftermovement by said electromagnetic means,

a common bracket means supporting said electromagnetic means and saidarmature means in side-by-side relationship adjacent said latch means,

a flux return flange formed on said bracket means adjacent saidelectromagnetic means,

and a portion of said armature plate extending over said fiux returnflange in closely spaced relationship therewith to provide a flux returnpath therebetween.

4. The invention as defined in claim 3 and having:

a plurality of electromagnetic means and armature means mounted inparallel side-by-side relationship,

each of said armature means being pivotally movable between the releaseportion and the latch position,

and a common pivot shaft mounted on said bracket means and pivotallysupporting each of said armature means.

5. The invention as defined in claim 4 and having:

a common spring rod mounted on said bracket means in parallel spacedrelationship to said common pivotal shaft,

and spring means attached at one end to said armature means and at theother end to said spring rod to pivotally bias said armature means tothe inoperative position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS ROBERT E. PULFREY, PrimaryExaminer.

75 E. S. BURR, Examiner.

